NHS Orkney and NHS Grampian ordered to apologise for failings in cancer patient's care

Two NHS boards have been ordered to apologise for failings in the care of a patient who had two cancers at the same time and died.

A watchdog investigated complaints raised by the patient’s family against NHS Orkney and NHS Grampian.

Identified as patient A, the person had been receiving treatment for bladder and bowel cancer.

During the investigation, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) took advice from a cancer surgeon on the services provided the patient.

The watchdog concluded that NHS Grampian delayed in initiating treatment for the patient’s bowel cancer, and that the reviews it carried out were “inadequate”.

It was also found that NHS Orkney failed to mark an MRI scan request as urgent.

The SPSO said there was a failure to provide a reasonable standard of care and treatment to patient A, and that both authorities had failed to meet obligations on transparency around the patient’s care.

They ordered both health boards to apologise to the patient’s family and made a number of recommendations for improvements.

On NHS Grampian, the watchdog said: “We found that there was a failure to provide a reasonable standard of care and treatment to A, particularly in relation to delays in initiating treatment for their colorectal (bowel) cancer.”

The report said, regarding NHS Orkney, said: “We found that there was a failure to provide a reasonable standard of care and treatment to A, particularly in relation to a failure to mark an MRI scan request as urgent and a failure to report the results of scopes in the normal way.”

STV News has contacted the NHS boards for comment.

An NHS Grampian spokesperson said: “We accept the Ombudsman’s findings. We have apologised, in writing, to those involved and would take this opportunity to apologise again publicly.”